Grain weighing and conveying machine.



Patented Doc. 25, I900. 0. N. STONE. GRAIN WEIGHING AND CONVEYING MACHINE.

(Applicltion filed Dec. 80, 1899.)

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Patented Dec. 25, I900.

0. M. STONE.

GRAIN WEIGH-ING AND CONVEYING MACHINE.

(Application filed. Dec. 30, 1899.)

3 Shepts8heat 2.

(In Modal.)

Patented Dec. 25,- I900. 0. M. STONE.

GRAIN WEIGHING AND CONVEYING MACHINE.

(Application filed Doc. 30, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER M. STONE, on GAYS, ILLINoIs.

GRAIN WEIGHING AND CONVEYING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,443, dated December 25, 1900.

Application filed DecemberSO, 1899- Serial No. 742,030. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, OLIVER M.STONE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gays, in the county of Moultrie,and in the State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Grain \Veighing, Oleaning,and Conveying Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic grainweighing machines; and the object thereof is to provide an improved device of this character which will weigh and convey the grain to its receptacle, such. as a car or bin, and at the same time register the number of bushels so conveyed without any attention by an op erator.

With this object in view my invention consists in providing a suitable framework or support on which a primary and a secondary hopper are pivotally secured, adapted to 00- act, whereby the grain from the first-named hopper will be dumped into a chute therebeneath and conveyed to a predetermined receptacle after having been tallied or the amount thereof registered.

My invention further consists in certain combinations of parts and details of construction, all of which will be specifically described in the following specification, illustrated in the drawings, and referred to in the following claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same. Fig. 3 isavertical longitudinal sectional view. Fig. 4 is vertical cross-section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the primary and secondary hoppers and their coordinate mechanism. Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the same. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the hopper-operating mechanism looking rearwardly from a position indicated by the line '7 7 of Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the conveyortube. Fig. 9 is a detail view of the hood-adjusting pawl. Fig. 10 is an enlarged elevation of the registering-dials. Fig. 11 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view thereof; and Fig. 12 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the dial-casing, illustrating the dials and "their mechanism in side elevation.

Referring now to the drawings by reference-numerals, 10 indicates a substantially rectangular casing, the rear standards 11 and 12 of which extend considerably above the casing proper and are connected at their upper ends by a cross-bar 13.

Secured to the casing 10 is a chute 14, provided with an opening 15 in one side, which registers with a similar opening 16 in the fancasing 17 of the fan 18 and which is adapted to be closed by a pivoted valve 19, the lower end of said chute being provided with an inclined discharge-spout 20.

Journaled in suitable brackets 21 on the standards 11 and 12 is a shaft 22, which carries a yoke-shaped scale-beam 23, on the rear end of which is an arm 24, provided with a slidable weight 25. Secured to the forward end of this beam is a weighing pan or hopper 26, on the side of which is a registering mechanism 27, to be hereinafter referred to. Pivoted at 28 is a valve 29, having an upwardlyextending arm 30, from the upper end of which extends a rearwardly-connecting rod 31, engaging the crank-arm 32 of the shaft 33, on which are secured a pinion 34 and a camdisk 35, the cut-out portion of the latter normally resting in the bifurcated portion of the arm 36 to hold the parts normally locked.

The primary hopper 37 is rigidly secured to suitable brackets 38 at the upper ends of the standards 11 and 12 and is also provided with a valve 39, pivoted thereto at 40, and the upward extension of which rests against the free end of the pivoted arm 41, engaging a spring-supported scale-indicator 42, also secured to said hopper. Secured to the valve 39, below its pivotal point, is a rearwardly-extending rod 43,connected to a bell-crank lever 44, fulcrumed in brackets 45, the lower end of said lever being connected to the scalebeam by a link-rod 46. A transverse shaft 47 also is journaled in suitable brackets 48, secured to the standards 11 and 12 and is arranged parallel with the shaft 22, and to this shaft 47 is keyed a gear-wheel 48, adapted to mesh with the pinion on the shaft 22, as will be presently explained. A pulley-wheel 49 is also keyed to one end of the shaft 47 and l IOO 53, 5 1, and 55, respectively, each being connected to an indicatingdial 56, 57, and 56. On the rear end of the shaft is a ratchet 59, adapted to be engaged by a pawl to normally hold said shaft rigid. A ratchet (51 of larger diameter is also carried by this shaft and is engaged by a pawl 62, secured to the upwardly-extending arm 30 of the valve 20. The shafts 54: and 55 are each provided with a star-wheel (33 and (54, so arranged that they Will not contact, but be engaged by fingers (35 on the shaft 53 and fingers 66 on the shaft 5i, the number of teeth or arms on the respective star-wheels corresponding to the unitary arrangement of the indicator. A graduation 67 is provided on the face-plate 68 of the indicator opposite the starting-point of each of the indicating-dials, which are provided with a number of marks around the edges or near thereto to correspond to the number of teeth in the ratchet on the shaft 53 and the teeth in the remaining star-wheels. Thus as the pawl 62 engages the ratchet for each (lumping of the scale-pan or secondary hopper the dish on the shaft 53 will be turned one point until it makes a complete revolution, when the finger on said shaft will engage an arm on the shaft 54: and rotate its disk one point, and so on until it makes a complete revolution, when the same action takes place with the next disk, it being of course understood that I may employ as many disks and shafts as are found desirable.

For conveying the grain from the fan to a car on a siding adjacent to the storehouse a conveyer 68 is employed, the lateral branch 69 of which is attached to the discharge end of the fan, the top of said conveyer-tube being provided with a peripheral flange 69, designed to be engaged by the hook-shaped catches 70 of the supplemental section 71 and is sleeved on a smaller extended portion projecting therefrom. (Shown in dotted lines in Fig. 8.) On the discharge end of this supplemental section I provide a hood '72, which consists of a series of segmental sections 73, pivoted thereto at 74, and operated by a sectional rod 75, provided near its lower end with a rack 76, engaged by a spring-pressed dog 77, whereby the hood may be adjusted in any desired position to feed grain under varying conditions.

The operation of my device is follows: Grain is fed into the primary hopper, and as the valve is normally open it will pass down into the secondary hopper until a sufficient quantity rests therein to throw the pinion in engagement with the gear-wheel on the rotating shaft. Thus the shaft 33 will be rotated and the crank-arm 32 will open the valve for one revolution of the disk 35, which abuts against the upper edge of the arm 36. By the time the cut-out portion of the disk gets opposite the upper edge of this arm the scale-pan will be light enough to allow the said cut-out portion to engage its upper edge, and the pinion 3t and gear-Wheel L8 will be thrown out of engagement, all this while the valve of the primary hopper is closed and said hopper is filling. As soon, however, as the secondary hopper drops down the primary hoppers valve will be opened and the contents thereof dumped into the secondary hopper, and this operation will take place indefinitely. From the secondary hopper the grain will be conveyed to the fan, and thence through the conveyer-tube, already described, into the car or receptacle provided for that purpose. At the same time the first disk of the indicator will be moved around to indicate one point. Thus if bushels are being used as the unit one bushel at a time will be registered.

It is of course understood that the shaft 4-7 is driven by a convenient power not a part of my invention and which is neither shown nor described, said shaft always being rotated together with the fan, the remaining coordinate parts only being thrown in operation by the weight of the grain.

Should it be found desirable to dispense with the fan and conveyeras,for instance,in a storehouse where the grain is to be removed from one floor to anotherit will be obvious that the pivoted valve 19 can be turned to the position indicated in dotted lines of Fig. -i, when the grain will continue on down to the discharge end 20 of the chute 14.

'While I have described in detail what at this time appears to be the very best means of accomplishing the desired result, I would have it expressly understood that I reserve the right to make such alterations and changes in construction as would suggest themselves to the ordinary mechanic skilled in this art and which would properly come within the scope of myinvention without departing from the spirit thereof.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination with a suitable support of a fan secured thereto, a chute arranged on the side of the fan and provided with an opening on the side, a transverse shaft arranged upon said chute a pivoted scale-beam secured on said shaft a scale-pan attached to said beam and provided with a pivoted valve, a secondary shaft journaled in said beam connected to the valve by an arm, and a pinion keyed to the secondary shaft, a third shaft journaled above the secondary shaft, and carrying a gear-wheel adapted to mesh with the pinion when the scale-pan is weighted, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a fan-casing having an opening in its side, a vertical chute arranged adjacent to the fan-casing and provided with a valve adapted to close the openingthereof,atransverseshaftjournaledabove the casing, a scale-beam pivoted thereto, a hopper arranged on the outer end of said beam, a pivoted valve provided therefor, a secondary shaft arranged on said beam and connected to said valve by a suitable rod, a

eeagees ea1npinion arranged on said secondary shaft, a power-shaft arranged upon the secondary shaft and carrying a ,QIGEtF-WllGGl adapted to mesh with the pinion a hopper arranged upon the first-namedhopper and provided With a 'pivoted valve adapted to be operated by a predetermined amount of grain or other material; a connection between the last-named valve and the scale-beam whereby the campinion will be thrown in engagement with the above-mentioned gear and the valve of the first-named hopper opened, and a registering mechanism of the first-named hopper adapted to be operated by a dog secured to its valve, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a transverse shaft,

OLIVER M. STONE.

Witnesses:

A. M. BLYTHE, J. M. AKERS. 

